# non camp gay celebrity **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 10, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749 "2004-01-10T00:12:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![murphyboy99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@murphyboy99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/murphyboy99)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/1 "2004-01-10T00:12:48Z")
I’m trying to think of some no camp gay celebs The only ones that I can think of are Rock Hudson Will Young ( British Pop Idol winner and perhaps slightly camp) Can anyone think of some more ? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/2 "2004-01-10T00:19:19Z")
The guy who plays Gandalf in Jackson’s LOTR ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/3 "2004-01-10T00:41:32Z")
Dan Butler, who plays Bulldog on Frasier. Amanda Bearse, from Married With Children Barney Frank, the Congressman from Massachusettes. Sheila James Kuehl, who started out in Dobie Gillis, went to Harvard Law School and later served in the California Assembly. My own opinion, Nathan Lane may be “theatrical” offstage, but he doesn’t cross over the line to “camp.” ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/4 "2004-01-10T00:48:13Z")
That would be Ian McKellen. James Dean (I believe) was gay but never really showed it off; quite the contrary, he was rather butch. Michael Stipe is gay but not campy. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Joe\_Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Random)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/5 "2004-01-10T00:48:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Revtim \* > \*\*The guy who plays Gandalf in Jackson’s LOTR \*\* That would be Ian McCellen, who also played Magneto in the X-men movies. And I tell you, you can’t get much further from camp than Gandalf. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/6 "2004-01-10T00:51:29Z")
Richard “the Thorn Birds” Chamberlain Ellen DeGeneris ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/7 "2004-01-10T01:01:55Z")
Greg Louganis. Esera Tuaolo. Ambassador James Hormel. Bishop V Gene Robinson. Chad Allen. Martina Navritalova. Billy Bean. David Kopay. Billie Jean King. Sal Mineo. There are a few thousand others I could list off… ---
**Author:** ![Sylkyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/8 "2004-01-10T01:11:28Z")
Robert Reed (Dad Brady from the original Brady Bunch show) is the one that sprang to mind first. I saw him in several interviews and he didn’t come off a bit campy. Don’t have a clue how he was in real life. Tim Curry. Yeah, I know, I know! He was the height of camp in RHPS, but from his interviews and other subsequent shows afterwards, he never came off ultra-camp at all. In fact, he’s quite suave and well-spoken. Does anybody have the Dope on Phillip Seymour (Scotty from "Boogie Nights, and more recently was a loser man of the cloth in “Cold Mountain”)? I remember reading he was gay, but I could be mistaken. If he is, I would definitely place him in the not-camp camp. If he isn’t, then nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/9 "2004-01-10T01:28:31Z")
By “non camp”, do you mean _not stereotypically gay_? If not, perhaps some of you should add your definitions at [www.urbandictionary.com](http://www.urbandictionary.com) If so, I have to wonder what **Otto** , **Jimmmy** , and **RubyStreak** are talking about when they say, “Greg Louganis, Martina Navritalova, Billie Jean King, Michael Stipe, Ellen Degenerous”. They come across as REALLY stereotypically gay, to me anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/10 "2004-01-10T01:28:50Z")
Philip Seymour Hoffman: not gay. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/11 "2004-01-10T02:07:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Tim Curry. Tim Curry has not to my knowledge publicly stated that he is gay. ---
**Author:** ![phraser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a88e4f/32.png) [@phraser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phraser)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/12 "2004-01-10T02:26:55Z")
A football player in the Australian NRL whose name escapes me. He played (plays?) with the North Queensland Cowboys, and is out as gay. He’s not camp (in the sense of being a stereotypical gay man, or in the sense of being an effeminate man) ---
**Author:** ![snorlax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@snorlax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snorlax)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/13 "2004-01-10T02:33:37Z")
Would you describe Matt Lucas (of _Little Britain_, the current hot British sketch comedy show) as camp? I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/14 "2004-01-10T02:38:53Z")
“Campy” is not the same as “effeminate” or “stereotypically gay”. The classic definition is by Susan Sontag in her 1964 essay [_Notes on Camp_](http://www.tao.ca/~lemming/notesoncamp.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/15 "2004-01-10T02:42:57Z")
Walt Whitman ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/16 "2004-01-10T03:19:37Z")
General Questions is for questions with factual answers. IMHO is for opinions and polls. Off to IMHO. **DrMatrix** - GQ Moderator ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/17 "2004-01-10T03:36:26Z")
Just as a side question (since we’re in IMHO) and all– **Otto** says that Tim Curry has never publicly stated he is gay–does that mean he canot be counted among gay celebs? What about Jodi Foster? She’s gay, everyone on the planet knows she’s gay, yet she still has the closet door tightly shut. Does that mean we may not refer to her as a lesbian? ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/18 "2004-01-10T03:40:48Z")
Didn’t Curry used to date that lady from Designing Women? I was sure I’d read that. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/19 "2004-01-10T03:47:07Z")
There’s a difference between “knowing” and knowing. I do not know that Jodie Foster is gay. I may presume, I may believe in my heart of hearts, but there is no factual evidence whatsoever upon which I may state, categorically and without _any_ fear of contradiction that Jodie Foster – or Tim Curry, Kevin Spacey, David Hyde Pierce, Mike Piazza, etc. ad infinitum – is gay in the way that I can say that **gobear** is gay, Ian McKellan is gay or Ellen is gay. Why can’t we respect – even while wanting desperately for gay celebrities to be out and use their visibility to help advocate on behalf of gay rights – people’s choices about being out? ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749/20 "2004-01-10T03:54:15Z")
I’ve been a fan of John Waters since long ago, and just last year I found out he was gay. Why would I think he was anyway? His weirdness is what I like, and indentify with. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-camp-gay-celebrity/223749.md?page=2)